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J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Almeida, D.S. and Pagliuco, C.M.M.
476
impulse compared with solid or hybrid rockets. Usually, the and oxidant are burned at a specific mixture ratio, resulting in the
cryogenic propellants have the highest specific impulse in low temperature of the turbine inlet gases to prevent destruction
liquid rocket engines. of the turbine blades. This cycle is the simplest, and it often offers
Some of the most important advantages of LPREs are the the lowest overall cost, provides a low engine structural mass
very wide range of thrust values to fit specific applications, due to lower internal pressure, but gives somewhat not higher
multiple ignition possibility, fast pulsing, long term operation performance than the closed cycle, which is more complex in
time and ready to reuse; thrust variation upon command; design, manufacturing and testing. Figure 1 shows the L75
controlling attitude changes and the capability to be checked scheme, a LPRE with a typical open cycle (Torres etal., 2009).
and even fully tested before use.
The restart of the LPRE thrust allows an accurate terminal
flight velocity, which is important to achieve the required
orbit. A remarkably high reliability has been achieved in the THE L75 ENGINE CHALLENGE
production of LPREs besides their lightweight structure, enabling
more embedded payload for a mission. Most exhaust gases of The current Brazilian Satellite Launcher Vehicle ( VLS-1)
LPREs using modern common propellants are non-toxic and cannot meet the overall strategic objectives of the space sector.
environmentally friendly (Sutton, 2006). However, it is envisaged the possibility to significantly increase
The cryogenic propellant liquid oxygen (LOx) and liquid the payload capacity of VLS-1 through partial modification of the
hydrogen (LH2) produce the higher specific impulse available vehicle, especially with the replacement of the solid propellant
for all environmentally friendly bipropellant, which permit a motors by liquid propellant engines in an upper stage.
considerable increase in cargo delivery for rocket launchers. To achieve this goal, several activities have been conducted in
However, cryogenic components have big issues with evaporation, Instituto de Aeronutica e Espao (IAE) such as the specification,
which limits the duration of the mission flight. In addition to design and construction of liquid rocket engines. One of these
that, LH2 has the disadvantage of needing big tanks due to its projects is the L75 engine.
very low density. A timeline of the project with the major milestones is:
The second more energetic and also non-toxic propellant 2008 Beginning of the L75 project;
pair is the LOx and kerosene, which has lower specific impulse 2009 System Requirement Review (SRR);
but higher density and a prolonged service in space rather than 2010 2012 FUNCATE (Fundao de Cincia, Aplicaes
LOx/LH2. LPRE with this propellant combination is suitable e Tecnologia Espaciais) contract: technical service to
for both first and upper launcher stages. support development of the project - 20 specialists;
Moreover, although less energetic, the LOx and ethanol 2011 Preliminary Design Review (PDR);
propellant pair has the advantages of its ready availability in 2012 Letter of exchange for Brazilian-German cooperation
Brazil, its chemical composition uniformity, being non-toxicity, on the development and tests of a 75 kN engine;
its cleanliness, its low cost, and it does not suffer pyrolysis or 2013 Fuel change from kerosene to ethanol;
produces significant soot at high temperatures inside the cooling 2013 2015 FUNDEP agreement: to proceed with the
channels of the regenerative cooled combustion chamber development, manufacturing and test of some components.
(Haeseler etal., 2000).
Engines with higher specific impulse are, in order, those In 2011, a protocol of intention between Brazilian Space
using LH2 and LOx as propellants and those operating in closed Agency (AEB) and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches
cycle. However, the technological challenges of using LH2 as Zentrum fr Luft-und Raumfahrt - DLR) was established with
propellant and the design of a closed cycle engine would make the objective of fostering cooperation in space activities. After
its development in the country still more complex than that of a visit of a German delegation at IAE in April 2011, a letter of
an open cycle engine using LOx and ethanol. exchange was established in October 2012 for further detailing
There are several different designs whereby a turbine can be the envisaged activities within the cooperation. The conductance
integrated into a LPRE, and this was identified as different engine of a review of the L75 engine was identified as a first major step.
cycles. The open cycle has a separate gas generator, where fuel Starting in 2012, meetings regarding a specific implementation
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Development Status of L75: A Brazilian Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine
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J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Almeida, D.S. and Pagliuco, C.M.M.
478
Thrust [kN]
P8
range of 5 to 7 MPa. P6 P9
75 P1
P5 P11
73 P4
The L75 engine nominal and extreme operational envelopes, P3
P14 P2
a set of physical data in which the propulsion system, subsystem, 71
P13
or component is intended to operate, are shown in Fig. 2. P12
69
The results obtained show that the L75 engine in the 1,30 1,35 1,40 1,45 1,50 1,55 1,60
Mixture Ratio (O/F)
current configuration has a decent mixture ratio envelope,
Figure 2. L75 engine envelopes.
despite a small margin for thrust variation. The restrictive
factors are the thrust chamber maximum mixture ratio, the
gas generatormaximum and minimum mixture ratios and
theturbopump maximum fuel flow.
The L75 engine (Fig. 3) thrust chamber consists of three main
components, the combustion chamber, where the propellants Valve
Valve
assemblies
assemblies GasGasgenerator
generator
undergo a set of chemical reactions at high pressure creating
hotgases during the combustion process; the nozzle, where Turbopump
Turbopump
the hot gases are accelerated to supersonic velocities; and the Thrust
Thrust
chamber
chamber
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Development Status of L75: A Brazilian Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine
479
cartridge, the main cartridge propellant, and the thermal The development life cycle phasing was elaborated according
protection and nozzle. to ECSS system, but this system can be adapted to specific
The control system of the L75 engine is responsible for the domains of application by use of tailoring activities necessary
starting procedure and ensures a safe transition to nominal thrust to meet specific project needs. The engine development is
in vacuum; to achieve the desired thrust by controlling the fuel divided into five main phases: mission identification, feasibility
and oxidizer flow rate and pressure drops; safe shutdown of the (concept), preliminary design (development), detailed design
firing operation. Furthermore, additionally controlled features (engineering) andqualification.
are the precision of the automatic thrust control, mixture-ratio Besides, the development models on thrust chamber, turbopump
control and condition monitoring (safety controls or health and gas generator (power pack), valves and regulators and control
monitoring of the engine). system level, two DM, one EM and two QM on engine level are
A flow diagram of the L75 engine showing its components considered the minimum necessary for engine development.
is given in Fig. 4. The two qualification models will be subject to all
essential modifications needed to meet the requirements
of the engine specification.
All engine components shall pass by acceptance tests before
DEVELOPMENT LOGIC their integration to the engine.
The selected basic approach is to minimize the overall
The development and qualification philosophy dedicated technical risk and to reduce non-recurring cost during
to the L75 engine and its subsystems are presented in Fig. 5, development by use of demonstrated hardware designs as
where the hardware model flow is shown. much as possible.
Ethanol
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Almeida, D.S. and Pagliuco, C.M.M.
480
OVERALL DEVELOPMENT STATUS has a mass flow rate of 1.3 kg/s, a mixture ratio of 0.3 and gas
temperature of 900 K.
Until the end of 2012, the L75 project was developed using, in The first L75 gas generator was tested in April 2014 on IAEs
addition to the IAEs human resources, services based in a contracts 20 kN test bench (Fig. 6). These tests are used in order to verify
with FUNCATE. This contract had a technical and service expertise the overall component performance, the combustion process
as an objective to supporttechnology development of the L75. and to validate thermodynamic models used during the design.
In December 2012, the project received from AEB a financial Figure 7 shows the gas generator relative chamber pressure
support, through an agreement with FUNDEP, to proceed with the versus the time during a hot test, demonstrating its stability.
development of the first components, allowing proceeding with
the needed tests to confirm the design parameters. Thisagreement TURBOPUMP
seeks to give more flexibility to the development of the project The L75 turbopump (Fig. 8) shaft is supported by two
and involved Brazilian industries in the space program. bearings, which are centrally mounted close to the fuel pump,
so they can be lubricated and cooled by the fuel. Seals are also
GAS GENERATOR provided to limit leakage.
The gas generator is a combustion device used in LPREs Considering cavitation characteristics and the fuel rich
for creating gases in suitable conditions, which are used as a gas on turbine side, the LOx pump is located at one end of the
working fluid for driving the turbine of the turbopump. shaft and the fuel pump in the middle, connected by a spline
The basic elements of the gas generator (Fig. 5) are: injector between pumps and a shaft. The gas generator exhaust ducting
element, cylindrical section, convergent section, in addition to leads to an impulse type single stage axial flow turbine with
fixing structural elements and interfaces. The igniter of the gas partial admission. Between the two pumps, an inter-propellant
generator is part of the ignition system. The L75 gas generator seal is adopted to avoid any interaction between propellants.
The fluid enters the pumps at low pressure from the tanks.
Inthis way, a tank pressurization system is necessary tomaintain
the required Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH)to prevent
pump cavitation. The pump inlet pressure is usually minimized
to reduce the tank size and weight. Once the fluid enters the
pump at the inlet, the inducer adds energy to the fluid before
passing to the impeller to add sufficient energy to the fluid to
suppress cavitation. The rotor significantly adds more kinetic
energy prior to directing the flow into the diffuser and the volute.
(a) (b)
Figure 6. (a) Gas generator hardware; (b) Gas generator
Figure 5. Gas Generator. hot test.
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Development Status of L75: A Brazilian Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine
481
The turbines (Fig. 9) main characteristics are power of380kW; inlet pressure of 0.4MPa; outlet pressure of 7.6 MPa; and mass
inlet gas pressure of 5.0 MPa; outlet gas pressure of 0.4MPa; flow rate of 14.5kg/s. The fuel pump works with an inlet pressure
gas flow rate of 1.3 kg/s; temperature in the blades of 800 K, of 0.3 MPa; an outlet pressure of 10.6 MPa; and a mass flow rate
rotation speed of 24,000 rpm. The oxidizer pump works with of 9.4 kg/s (Fig.10).
Figure 7. Gas generator relative chamber pressure versus time during a hot test.
(a)
(a)
Fuel pump
LOx pump rotor
Turbine
(b) (b)
Figure 9. (a) SAE 422 stainless steel turbine disk; (b) Finite
Figure 8. (a) Turbopump; (b) Rotor assembly. element analysis of distribution of temperature on turbine disk.
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Almeida, D.S. and Pagliuco, C.M.M.
482
(a) (b)
Figure 10. AA 7075 aluminum alloy high-speed rotor
pumps (a) ethanol and (b) LOx.
(a)
THRUST CHAMBER
The main characteristics of the thrust chamber are: mass flow
of 22.8 kg/s; mixture ratio of 1.7; temperature in the combustion
chamber of 3400 K; and area expansion ratio of 150. Figure 11
shows the L75 thrust chamber in the short configuration for
sea level hot tests.
COMPONENTS
The main characteristics of the L75 thrust regulator (Fig. 12),
responsible for the control of the thrust level, are the nominal
mass flow rate of 0.3 kg/s (LOx); the inlet pressure of 7.0 MPa
and the outlet pressure of 6.0 MPa.
L75 will operate with two main valve assemblies (Fig. 13)
with the following parameters: LOx inlet pressure 7.5 MPa; (b)
nominal LOx mass flow rate 14.5 kg/s; ethanol inlet pressure
Figure 11. (a) thrust chamber; (b) equivalent stress in MPa
10.6 MPa; ethanol mass flow rate 9.4 kg/s. (von Mises stress).
The ignition of the L75 engine is a challenging issue.
Thedominating criterion is reliability, repeatability and robustness
of the ignition system (Jean and Dalbies, 2000).
Several tests have already been executed with the thrust
chamber and gas generator igniters and the turbine starter, as
can be seen in Fig. 14.
TEST FACILITIES
Liquid rocket engines for launch vehicles as well as their Figure 12. Thrust regulator valve.
subsystems need to be verified and qualified during cold and
hot-runs. A high test cadence combined with a flexible test team production. The test facility allows to test subsystems in the
helps to reduce the cost for test verification during development same manner as during complete engine system tests and will
and qualification as well as during acceptance testing for therefore reduce development time and cost.
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Development Status of L75: A Brazilian Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine
483
The basic strategies for development and verification of the HYDRAULIC TEST STAND
L75 engine are based on appropriate verification methods of The hydraulic test stand is a facility whose main objective
therequirements, levels that the component occupies in the product is the characterization of LPRE components, using distilled
tree, stage of development and definition for the development, water as working fluid. It consists basically of the specimens
engineering and qualification models. One or more models may be test area, the drive system consisting of pumps and electric
required to demonstrate compliance with specified requirements motors, the distilled water storage tank, a filtration system,
of the design, depending on the level of verification. Acceptance water cooling system and the data acquisition and control
tests will be carried out on component, equipment and engine systems, which is able to achieve a water flow up to 30 kg/s,
level. Prior to acceptance test, these items should be checked-out working pressure of 35 bar. The system power is 180 HP
according to the defined assembly or integration procedures. (132kW). Figure 16 shows the test area of the hydraulic
To confirm adequacy of the design methodology of L75 engine, test stand.
the construction of test facilities is in progress. The test benches
in operation or under implementation are described hereafter. PUMPS AND TURBINE COLD TEST STAND
Pumps and turbine cold test stand will allow the testing of
20 KN FIRING TEST STAND the L75 hydraulic pumps and turbine through the operation of
Designed for firing MFPLs up to 20 kN of thrust using individual pumps and turbine, control of components and data
pressurized tanks of LOx and ethanol as a propellant and with acquisition allowing the verification of functional requirements
a combustion chamber pressure up to 100 bar. This test bench, of these pumps and adequacy of the design of the component
which currently is used for testing the engines L5 and L15, was being tested. Figure 17 shows the scheme of the pumps and
adapted for the L75 gas generator hot tests (Fig. 15). turbine cold test stand.
Figure 13. L75 main valve assembly. Figure 15. 20 kN firing test stand.
Figure 14. Turbine starter hot test. Figure 16. Hydraulic test stand.
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014
Almeida, D.S. and Pagliuco, C.M.M.
484
Figure 17. Scheme of the pumps and turbine cold test stand.
The greatest merit of the L75 project is not only the This paper was elaborated with support of a large number
development of the engine which is, in itself, already a great of members of the IAE and FUNDEP, and the authors wish to
contribution to formation of a qualified team, implementation of thank the team members.
infrastructure for design, manufacturing using qualified Brazilian The authors thank AEB for the financial support.
REFERENCES
ECSS European Cooperation for Space Standardization, 2004, ECSS-E-30 PNAE Programa Nacional de Atividades Espaciais 2012-2021: AEB -
part 5.2 draft1 rev.1, Propulsion for Launchers Solid and Liquid. Agncia Espacial Brasileira, 2012, Ministrio da Cincia e Tecnologia,
Braslia, Brazil.
ECSS European Cooperation for Space Standardization, 2009,
ECSS-M-ST-10C, Project planning and implementation. Sutton, G.P., 2006, History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines,
Virginia, USA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Haeseler, D., Gtz, A. and Frhlichs, A., 2000, Non-toxic propellants
Inc., 911 p.
for future advanced launchers propulsion systems, AIAA 2000-3687.
Torres, M.F.C., Almeida, D.S., Krishna, Y.S.R., Silva, L.A. and
Jean, F. and Dalbies, E., 2000, Development status of the VINCI
Shimote, W.K., 2009, Propulso Lquida no IAE: Viso das
engine for Ariane 5 upper stage, AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEEE 36th
atividades e perspectivas futuras, Journal of Aerospace Technology
Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Hunstsville USA.
and Management, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 99-106. doi: 10.5028/
Niwa, M. and Yoshino, T., 1997, Liquid Propulsion in Brazil, COBEM 97. jatm.2009.010199106.
J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., So Jos dos Campos, Vol.6, No 4, pp.475-484, Oct.-Dec., 2014